


Mellohi

by wobblesworld



Series: Ranboo Stories [2]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Enderman Hybrid Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Manipulation, Protective Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF), but he has a big part in the second chapter, first chapter is just ranboo phil and techno, uhh i dont know what tags to put
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:22:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29455227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wobblesworld/pseuds/wobblesworld
Summary: The repeating music in his head was quickly driving Ranboo insane. He could feel himself begin to grow taller, something his body did when he was stressed or scared, and at the moment he was both. He started walking faster, the music growing louder the closer he got to the room.or, Ranboo hears mellohi again, but some things are different this time. The source of the music isn't his panic room, the music is much louder, and he isn't alone this time.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Ranboo & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Sam | Awesamdude, Ranboo & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Sam | Awesamdude & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: Ranboo Stories [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2182338
Comments: 25
Kudos: 622





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I really liked the idea of Ranboo hearing mellohi in his head, so I wrote about it, but accidentally added a bunch of lore. I really wasn't planning on this to be a multi-chapter thing, but it's getting too long and I don't think it'll be too long until I'm done so I figured I'd go ahead and post the first part! Like I said in the tags, Tubbo and Sam aren't in the first chapter, but Tubbo is in the entire of the second chapter and Sam is in like half of it. Anyways, please enjoy and let me know if you see any typos!

It had been a few days since Dream had been put in the prison and Ranboo wasn't doing so well. He was happy Dream was gone, don't get him wrong, but the voice's disappearance only brought a new hallucination. 

Mellohi. 

The first time he heard it, he was so confused. None of the jukeboxes around him had a disc in them and even if they did, the song kept repeating, unlike if the song was being played through a jukebox which would stop the music after it played once. 

He went all the way to his panic room, the song getting louder the closer he got. Somewhat surprisingly, the disc was in the jukebox in the middle of the small room and the music stopped when it ejected. He sighed in relief – the song gave him bad memories – and started walking back home. 

How did the disc even get there, though? And how did he hear it so clearly from so far away? It didn’t make sense, but as long as it didn’t happen again, it would be fine. He didn’t need to know.

It happened again. Almost as soon as he got home, the haunting, ominous music played, almost as if it was in his head. He wouldn't be surprised if it was. If the voice did anything for him, it proved that not everything Ranboo heard was real.

He went back to the panic room to see if he could stop the music, but he had the disc on him, he didn't know how it could be playing.

As expected, nothing was in the jukebox. Ranboo even broke it down and the maddening music played on in his brain.

“I’m done,” Ranboo muttered. “I’m done!” He pulled out his memory book – the “fake” one he got after Dream got his previous one – and left it on the floor in front of him, flipped open to the first page that had what the voice accused him of doing written down on.

“Come on!” he yelled towards the book, but it was truly directed at the voice. “ _ Come on!  _ Don’t you have anything to say?  _ Anything??  _ This worked the last two times and I didn’t even have to  _ say _ anything!” He didn’t get a response, but the music was still playing, so he had to be missing something. There had to be something he hadn’t done. 

Suddenly, the creepy, crudely drawn smiley face at the top of the page disappeared and the music finally stopped. The “you blew up the community house :)” and “you had THE disc :)” disappeared as well, making Ranboo realize something that let a heavy weight off of his chest. 

“I didn’t do it,” he muttered, his voice unsteady. “I didn’t do any of these things. I didn’t blow up the community house, it was just  _ lying _ .”

Ranboo carefully walked over to the chest that was previously hidden behind the wall and opened it to reveal the same two blocks of TNT, but another book as well. It was identical to the ones he had, but it was blank. A new beginning.

A couple of days later, he was with Phil and Techno on a trip to an ocean monument. Due to the direction the map led them, they had to pass by the area where his panic room was located. 

As soon as they passed through the portal into the Dream SMP lands, he started hearing it. The ominous music started quiet but made Ranboo freeze up and stop walking once he noticed it. 

“Ranboo?” Phil said, noticing that he had stopped moving. “You ok, mate?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

Ranboo continued walking, not noticing Phil and Techno sharing a look of suspicion behind him. He picked up a grass block from the ground by the path once they passed the slowly rebuilding community house and hugged the block to his chest.

“What’s with the grass block?” Techno asked.

“It’s an enderman thing. It’s comforting.”

Phil tilted his head. “Is something bothering you?”

“N-No! It just makes me happy.”

“You don’t seem very happy right now,” Techno looked at him with an accusatory look.

He was right, Ranboo wasn’t happy. The repeating music in his head was quickly driving Ranboo insane. He could feel himself begin to grow taller, something his body did when he was stressed or scared, and at the moment he was both. He started walking faster, the music growing louder the closer he got to the room. 

Why was he still walking? He could just turn around and leave, deal with the music later when he was alone. But no, not only did he keep going, he went faster. 

He could faintly hear Phil and Techno calling out to him from behind him, but their frantic voices were drowned out by the music (it was definitely louder than last time) and the involuntary enderman noises that climbed their way out of his throat.

At some point, he placed the grass block somewhere and started running, making the gradual crescendo move faster as well. By the time he got to what once was L’manburg, it was so loud his head started to hurt. He didn’t make it past Jack Manifold’s house before he fell to the ground and slapped his hands over his ears, the action predictably doing nothing to quiet the music.

Ranboo didn't know anything that was going on around him – his eyes were squeezed shut and even if his hands weren't clasped over his ears, the music was so loud it would have drowned out any sounds he could have heard – so his shock was understandable when he suddenly felt something touch his shoulder.

He felt the enderman equivalent of a yelp escape his throat and he jerked away from the touch, his eyes shooting open as he scrambled backward. In front of him, he saw a familiar, blonde-haired man dressed in green. Behind him, his piglin-hybrid roommate stood awkwardly, a worried look on both of their faces. Techno looked more confused than worried and Phil looked more shocked than worried, but they both still looked concerned.

Phil was trying to talk to him, but Techno seemed to realize something and said something to Phil, who stopped trying to talk to Ranboo. Phil thought for a moment before slowly extending a hand toward Ranboo, his palm facing up. 

Ranboo’s first instinct was to run away, but the welcomingly open hand and soft, reassuring smile on Phil’s face was so tempting, he cautiously reached a hand out and gently set his hand in Phil’s.

Phil’s smile grew slightly and he extended his other arm up as if offering a hug. Almost immediately, Ranboo shuffled toward him and buried himself in Phil’s arms, still feeling distressed enderman warbles in his throat. 

He didn’t get the comfort for very long before something happened to disturb it, though. The music started getting louder. Like the source of the music was getting closer to him, but that didn’t make sense because he thought the source was the panic room and that couldn’t have moved.

Whatever. He didn’t care what the reason was, all he knew was that it  _ hurt _ . Ranboo squeezed Phil’s hand subconsciously, trying to just breathe through the pain, but it kept getting louder. He felt an enderman-like scream rip through his throat and he pulled his hands away from Phil to press them against his ears out of instinct, despite knowing that it did nothing. 

His eyes were once again squeezed shut, so he couldn’t see how Phil reacted, but he could feel him moving in what Ranboo assumed to be panic. After a moment, the music's volume stopped growing and he felt Phil tense up and wrap a wing around him.

Curious as to what was going on, Ranboo, who was no longer screaming, but still making distressed sounds, opened his eyes. Looking up, he saw Technoblade standing with his back facing him and Phil, his sword out and his body tense. He looked like he was talking to someone. In front of Techno, facing the three of them, he saw Dream. 

_ ‘What?’  _ Ranboo thought.  _ ‘He’s supposed to be in the prison! He couldn’t have gotten out, right?’  _

Something then caught his eye. His book! Dream was holding up his book! It wasn’t his new one, it looked more worn down, but not quite worn down enough to be his first one in the server, so it must have been the book that he had originally gotten from Dream.

Ranboo sat up quickly, Phil turning to him at the movement. It looked like Dream was speaking, but he didn’t care. “Techno!” he said, though he couldn’t even hear his own voice. Techno turned to look at him. “I need you to get my book from him and destroy the first page. Just keep it away from me until you do it. Please.”

Techno nodded and turned back towards Dream, seemingly beginning to talk to him about something.

The pain in Ranboo’s head was making him aggravated; not in the way that made him violent, but in the way that made him want to sob until he passed out. He buried his face in Phil’s neck and wrapped his arms around Phil's abdomen as he felt tears tread painfully down his cheeks. 

He felt the comforting warmth of wings being wrapped around him and fingers carding through his hair and the pain was made a little bit more bearable. He was still tense and trembling, but he felt like he could get through it. 

After sitting like that for a minute, he grew curious as to what was going on and moved to look. 

Glancing over Phil's wing, he saw Techno standing over Dream with his foot pressed against his chest. He had the memory book in his hands and Ranboo watched as he tore out the first page, which he could see still had writing on it, and began tearing it up.

The second the words were torn through, the music stopped. It was gone.

Ranboo all but fell onto Phil, all of the tension leaving his body. 

"Ranboo?" he finally heard Phil's voice. "Can you hear me?"

He nodded and answered, his voice slightly raspy, "Yeah. Yeah, I can hear you."

Phil sighed in relief, "Good. Are you alright?"

"I'm... better."

From a few meters away, Techno shouted, "What the- Where the hell did he go??"

Ranboo flinched slightly at the noise and looked over at where Dream was previously pinned to the ground, but Dream was gone. 

"What happened?" Phil asked.

"He just disappeared! He was there one second and gone the next!"

Ranboo should have been scared. Logically, he knew that Dream was someone who he should be afraid of, but he was so tired, he wasn't fully processing what he was hearing. 

Phil seemed to have noticed this because he looked down at him and said, “Ranboo?”

“Hm?”

“Just making sure you can still hear me.” Phil started combing through Ranboo’s hair with his fingers, but the rest of his attention went back to Techno. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. If he comes after us, we’ll kill him, but let’s just go home for now, ok?”

Techno nodded, “Yeah, ok. I can carry the kid if you want. He looks like he’s about to crash.”

Phil chuckled softly, “That’d be great.” He looked back down at Ranboo. “Ranboo, can Techno pick you up? We need to get you home.”

Ranboo nodded and unwrapped his arms from Phil’s torso. Phil lowered his wings, causing Ranbooo to shiver at the sudden change in temperature, and let Techno kneel down and pick up Ranboo, careful not to jostle him too much.

Techno’s hold was surprisingly comfortable and Ranboo knew he was going to have a hard time keeping his eyes open.

He saw Phil stand up next to him and he was starting to think that Phil could read his mind because the first thing he said was, “You can sleep if you want, Ranboo. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

Ranboo nodded and his eyes slipped shut. He mumbled a quiet “thank you” before his consciousness left him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the way home, Phil and Techno run into Tubbo and he insists on coming with them. Danger ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW this is getting longer than i thought it would, so I'm gonna be adding a third chapter. I have almost 7k words in the doc (includes all chapters) so I figured I'd split it up. Anyways, here's Tubbo and Sam (mostly Tubbo, Sam will have more focus next chapter) but don't worry Phil and Techno are still there. Enjoy! :D

Phil and Techno quietly talked as they made their way to the community portal with Ranboo. They tried to piece together what happened, but they didn’t know nearly enough to be able to figure out anything that was going on.

They didn’t see anyone else until they got to the community house where they turned the corner to see Tubbo walking in from the direction of the portal. As soon as he saw them, Tubbo stopped walking. His shocked expression quickly turned into anger as his eyes landed on the balled-up form of Ranboo in Techno's arms. 

He pulled out his sword even though his gear wasn't nearly as good as Phil and Techno's. "What the hell are you doing with Ranboo?" 

Phil stepped in front of Techno and lifted his wings protectively. “Put the sword away. We’re just getting him home where he’ll be safe.”

“Did something happen? Why do you need to get him to safety?”

“I’ll be completely honest with you, Tubbo. I’m not really sure what happened and I don’t think we will know until Ranboo wakes up and tells us.”

“That’s… concerning. Well if you’re taking him to your place, I’m coming with you.”

Techno shook his head, “Nope. That’s not happening.”

“Why not? I’m just gonna follow you anyways and Ranboo would not be happy if he found out you attacked me. Plus, it’s not like I don’t know where you live. If I wanted to steal from you or something, I would’ve done it by now."

Phil half-turned to Techno. "C'mon, Techno. It'll be fine. I mean, just look at him. His gear isn't the best. If he tries something, it won't be hard to kill him."

Techno sighed, "Ok, fine. He can come. Just don't be difficult, Tubbo."

Tubbo nodded enthusiastically. "Okay!"

Phil began to explain what happened as they walked through the nether, “We were going on a search for an ocean monument and had to pass through L’manburg to get there. As soon as we got through the portal and started walking towards the community house, Ranboo started freaking out about something. He was being kind of subtle about it at first, but he grew more and more agitated as we walked. We tried to ask him about it, but I think it just made it worse and he started running. We ran after him and tried to get his attention, but he didn’t react to anything we said. 

“Once he got to Jack Manifold’s house, he fell to his knees and put his hands up to his ears like he was trying to block out a sound. I tried talking to him, but he wasn’t responding, so I touched his shoulder. Not the best idea – he pulled away as soon as I touched him and backed away from me, but at least he was looking at me.

"I kept trying to talk to him, but Techno realized that he wasn't just not reacting, he couldn't hear me at all.

"I offered him a hug and it seemed to calm him down, but after a moment he started  _ screaming _ and he put his hands over his ears again."

Phil paused to kill a piglin that was trying to shoot at Techno as Tubbo, who was shockingly quiet so far, shot down a ghast that was attacking them – Techno couldn't fight while holding Ranboo and they all wanted Ranboo to be safe.

"Then fuckin'  _ Dream _ walked up to us," Phil continued.

"Wait, what? Dream? No! He's in the prison! He can't escape that!"

"Yeah, I know. He was there, though, and he was trying to convince us to let him take Ranboo. He kept going on about how Ranboo was his `best friend´ and that Ranboo trusted him."

"That's not true at all! Ranboo is terrified of Dream!”

“I know. Dream kept trying to convince us though; showed us Ranboo’s memory book and said he gave it to him – I think we both know how protective he is of that thing."

"You didn't give him up, though, right?"

"Of course not! He didn't even finish speaking before Ranboo interrupted him. I don't think he could hear himself, but he told Techno that he needed to get the book and destroy the first page. That’s weird already, but then he asked him to keep the book away from him until the page was destroyed. It didn’t make sense, but we didn’t question him.”

“Well, you said he started freaking out again right before Dream got there, right?”

“Yeah, he did.”

“And Dream had the book, so maybe the book was doing something to him and it got worse the closer the book got.”

“Huh, you might be right about that. It would make sense. I don’t know what was with the first page though.”

They walked through the portal and emerged on the ice. Techno noticed Ranboo shiver in his arms, so he called out to Phil, “Uh, Phil? Can you, uh… cloak.”

“Sure, mate.” Phil walked over to Techno, removed the piglin hybrid’s cloak, and draped it over Ranboo. Satisfied, they continued walking.

“Well did you destroy the page?” Tubbo asked.

“Yeah, Techno did. He had to fight Dream for it, but Dream didn’t look like he was trying very hard. I mean, I know Techno’s better than him, but he’s not  _ that _ much better than him. The fight couldn’t have lasted any more than a minute, it was like Dream wanted him to win.

“When Techno got the book, he ripped out the first page and started tearing it up. As soon as he started ripping it, Ranboo just went limp in my arms – it was  _ weird  _ – but he could hear me again! We can’t have good things for too long, though, ‘cause Techno then brought to our attention that Dream fucking disappeared after he ripped up the page.”

“ _ What? _ ”

“It was like he teleported or some shit, right Techno?”

Techno grunted, “Yeah, but last I checked, Ranboo’s the enderman, not Dream.”

“Well, where the hell did he go?” Tubbo screamed.

Phil’s wings puffed up, “I don’t know, Tubbo! We didn’t exactly go looking for him, we had priorities!” He gestured toward Ranboo, who was clutching Techno’s shirt and making distressed enderman sounds in his sleep.

Phil and Tubbo both rushed over to him as Techno stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Phil ran his fingers through Ranboo’s hair as Tubbo pulled his hand out from under the cloak and held it tightly. Ranboo calmed down almost immediately. He went quiet and his other hand slipped out of the folds of Techno’s shirt and onto his own chest.

Phil smiled and moved away to keep walking. “Did anything happen after that?” Tubbo asked, his hand still clutching Ranboo’s as they walked. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but he wasn't going to let go.

“Not really. Ranboo looked like he was about to pass out – he didn’t even react to Dream disappearing – so Techno picked him up and he fell asleep as we headed back to the portal. Then we ran into you.”

They reached the cabin not long after Phil finished his explanation and Techno immediately moved to lay Ranboo down on the couch, requiring Tubbo to reluctantly let go of his hand. Techno quickly brushed some of Ranboo’s hair away from his face before walking over to his chests to make more golden carrots.

"You look weirdly fit for this climate," Phil said, looking at Tubbo's warm clothes that he definitely wouldn't have needed if he lived in Dream SMP lands.

Tubbo sat down with his back leaning against the couch, draped Ranboo's arm over his chest, and held onto his hand again. "My new home is also pretty cold, I needed warm clothes if I was going to continue living there," he explained easily.

"Makes sense." Phil pulled a blanket out of one of the chests and wrapped it around Ranboo. "Ranboo wasn't as smart as you, apparently. He still wears that suit everywhere."

"I've tried giving him warmer clothes, but he refuses to accept anything from me. He uses the excuse of being part enderman and says he isn't as affected by the cold."

"Yeah but I always see him shivering, he's obviously lying."

Tubbo chuckled, "Too nice for his own good. Literally." 

"You can say that again," Phil agreed with a fond smile.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Tubbo felt Ranboo's hand tighten around his and he immediately turned around. "Ranboo!" he yelled upon seeing his eyes open.

Ranboo winced at the noise and rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes with his free hand as he sat up. "Hi, Tubbo. Wait, Tubbo? Why are you at Techno's house?"

"I ran into him and Phil when they were bringing you home and Phil said something happened, so I came with to make sure you were ok!"

"Oh… that's… thank you, Tubbo."

"Of course! You're my friend, man. I might do experiments on you sometimes, but I still care about you."

Phil sat next to Ranboo on the couch and wrapped a wing around him. “You do what now?” he asked accusingly as Ranboo leaned into his side.

“I was only trying to fix his memory! Sure, it might not have worked, but I had good intentions!”

“Ehhh, we’ll talk about this later. How are you feeling, Ranboo?”

Ranboo looked up at Phil and fidgeted with Tubbo’s fingers. “Oh, I feel fine now. My head still hurts a little bit, but I’m fine.”

“That’s good. Can you tell us what happened or will you still remember if we wait?”

“I think I’d better tell you now. I doubt I’m gonna remember much about it tomorrow.”

“Alright. Start whenever you're ready. I already told Tubbo everything that happened from my perspective.”

Ranboo nodded and started explaining as Techno sat down at his other side. He explained the first two times he heard the music before describing what had happened that day. 

"I didn't think it would happen again. I thought the words disappearing would be the end of it, but as soon as we got through the portal, I started hearing it again. I thought the grass block would help me stay calm, but it didn't. I just kept panicking more and more the louder it got.

"It was  _ so loud _ . It was so much louder than the first two times and it  _ hurt _ ." He tightened his grip on Tubbo's hand. “Once I got to Jack’s house, it was just too much. I fell and– well, you know what happened.”

“What about after I hugged you?” Phil asked, his voice comforting. “You started screaming. What happened?”

“It started getting louder again. I tried to stay calm, but it was too much; I couldn’t.”

“How’d you know that destroying the first page would stop it?” it was Techno this time.

“Well, the second time it happened, it went away when the words on that page disappeared.”

“The page wasn’t empty when I ripped it up, though.”

“It must’ve been an illusion or a hallucination or something. It might’ve been my head telling me what I needed to do. So, when the page was actually gone, the music went away as well.”

“Ranboo,” Phil said softly. “Do you remember what happened after the music was gone? With Dream?”

Ranboo thought for a moment, a confused look on his face, then his eyes widened in realization. “Oh my god. He disappeared. He– he could be anywhere! We need to find Sam!”

“Hey, hey,” Phil wrapped his wing tighter around Ranboo and held onto his other hand. “It’ll be ok. We’ll keep you safe and we can send a message to Sam if you want. There are three of us here to protect you if Dream comes. It’ll be ok.”

Tubbo nodded aggressively, “I can message Sam! He likes me, so he’s less likely to assume I did something."

Phil nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good! I don't think it would be a great idea for Techno or me to talk to him seeing as we worked with Dream. Anyways, you do that, Tubbo. Techno and I'll get started on the food."

"Actually," Ranboo started, "can one of you go get Enderchest? I really want to see her if that's ok."

"Yeah, of course! I'll go get her. Techno, you can make whatever you want; I'll give you a hand when I get back."

Techno nodded and they all went off to do their tasks. Tubbo moved to the couch when Phil and Techno got up, tired of sitting on the floor.

"Sorry, big man. I need two hands for this," Tubbo said, gesturing at their linked hands.

"Oh! Right, sorry." Ranboo let go of Tubbo's hand, only then realizing how tightly he had been holding it. "Sorry," he repeated.

"You're fine," Tubbo reassured him, drawing out the word "fine." "You apologize too much."

“Yeah, I hear that a lot.”

Tubbo chuckled and started pressing buttons on the communicator strapped to his wrist.

_ Tubbo: have you checked on dream lately? please tell me he’s still in the prison _

__ _ Awesamdude: Don’t worry, Tubbo. He can’t get out. _

__ _ Tubbo: please check anyways _

__ _ Awesamdude: I’ll check on him, but I don’t know how he could have escaped. _

__ _ Tubbo: can you call me once you check _

__ _ Awesamdude: Yeah, sure. _

“Okay!” Tubbo said cheerfully. “Sam’s checking on Dream and he’s gonna call me once he’s done.”

Ranboo nodded and took a deep breath, “Ok, that’s good.”

Tubbo leaned against Ranboo and they waited for Phil to get back, the sound of Techno peeling potatoes being the only noise in the room.

They didn’t need to wait long, the door opening loudly not even a minute later. Phil closed the door behind him and handed Ranboo his cat, who started purring as soon as she was in his arms. “Did Sam reply?” he asked Tubbo.

“Yep! He said he’d call me after he checked on Dream. It might take a bit though, it took like 30 minutes for Tommy to get through the prison with Sam. It should be faster without a visitor, but I don’t imagine it’s very quick still."

"Makes sense. At least we have time to make food before he calls. Speaking of which, what'd you decide to make, Techno?"

"Potato soup," Techno answered simply.

"Ah, a Technoblade classic. Anything I can do to help?"

"Can you cut up the potatoes?"

"Sure, mate."

After about ten minutes of cooking and pretending to understand Enderchest's meows, Tubbo's communicator vibrated. "It's Sam," he said.

He pressed a button and Sam's voice echoed in the room. "Tubbo, how did you know to check on Dream just now?" he asked, his voice panicked yet harsh.

"Is he gone?"

"Yes, Tubbo, he's gone! You need to get to the prison right now."

"Sam, I can't. I think Dream is after Ranboo and I can't leave him."

"Then I'll come to you! Where are you?"

"Uh."

Tubbo looked up at Phil and Techno as if asking permission to disclose their location. 

Techno sighed and spoke up, "Do you know where my house is?"

"Technoblade? No, I don't."

"Just go to the community portal. Phil or I'll get you from there."

"I'll go," Phil added. "I can move faster with my wings and I'd rather no one be separated for too long. Plus, I think Techno is the only one here who could actually fight Dream; I don't think it's the best idea for him to be gone."

"Good point," Sam replied. "I'll head there now and message one of you when I get there. It shouldn't be long. Before I leave the call, though, is Ranboo there?"

Ranboo perked up at the sound of his name. "Uh, yeah?"

"Just- are you ok?"

"Not… entirely, but I have people with me now, so I think I will be."

"That’s good. Let me know if there’s anything I can do; I'll see you all soon."

There was a beep and silence filled the room.

A few minutes later, Phil left to get Sam, the strong sound of his wings beating the air reinforcing his exit. 

Almost as soon as Phil was gone, an explosion went off right outside of the cabin door, destroying most of the wall and some of the floor. Arrows flew through the hole in the wall as Techno, Ranboo, and Tubbo shouted in shock and scrambled for their weapons. 

Techno frantically grabbed his shield and sword as well as two more shields for Ranboo and Tubbo, handed the duo the shields, and scanned what he could see through the smoke for the source of the arrows. 

He spotted a flash of bright green on the roof of the half-built house by the cabin and immediately tunnel-visioned onto it, leaping out of the hole in the wall with a running start, his cape flapping behind him as he climbed up to the roof using the stasis chamber staircase as support. 

Dream immediately saw Techno sprinting towards him and swapped out his crossbow for an enchanted netherite sword that he somehow got since he got out of the prison. 

Wait a minute, the sword wasn’t the only thing that seemed too powerful for him to have gotten that fast. He had full enchanted netherite armor underneath his bright green, half-length cloak and the crossbow that he had been using a moment ago looked enchanted as well. Did this guy really hide spares of everything before he was put in jail?

Dream seemed to be at a disadvantage due to his lack of a shield, but then he started teleporting sporadically around his opponent, getting a few hits in on Techno while Techno couldn’t land a single blow.

That didn’t last for long, though, as Dream’s teleportation started to get sloppy like he was getting tired; he looked almost as if his body glitched before teleporting, making his teleportations delayed.

Techno was able to hit him a couple of times before Tubbo ran up to help him, Ranboo watching wide-eyed from inside the house, Enderchest not in sight.

That seemed to have given Dream an idea because the next time he teleported it was to Tubbo, who squeaked in shock. He pulled him to his chest from behind and pressed his blade against the boy’s neck. He moved so that he could see both Techno and Ranboo and made eye contact with Ranboo, who furrowed his eyebrows in anger and slowly began to grow in size.

“I have a proposal for you, Ranboo,” Dream began, his voice booming. “Come with me without a fuss and I’ll let Tubbo leave unharmed. Refuse and I take his last life.”

The bargain definitely didn’t have the same effect as Dream had intended because instead of giving up and saving Tubbo by giving himself away, Ranboo looked like he was transforming. His limbs grew longer, his fingers sharpened into claws, and he snarled, revealing razor-sharp teeth which were definitely not like that before.

Dream could see that this wasn’t going as planned, but he kept his guard up. “Ranboo? I’m starting to think I’ll have to kill Tubbo. Man, I really thought you were gonna give yourself up for him.” He chuckled, trying and failing to make it sound more confident and less nervous.

When Dream pushed the blade ever so slightly harder against Tubbo’s neck, making him whimper as it drew blood, Ranboo let out an ear-piercing screech that sounded far from human. 

The sound startled Dream into loosening his grip on Tubbo, allowing him to push the sword away from his neck just far enough for him to slip out of Dream’s grasp mostly unharmed.

As soon as Tubbo was away from him, Ranboo leaped to the other building using his claws to keep himself from falling and threw himself at Dream once he was fully on the roof. 

Dream tried to teleport, but his body only did the glitch thing and he didn’t move. When Ranboo was close enough to him, he swung his sword in defence.

Ranboo dodged the attack and immediately moved to pry the handle of the sword out of Dream’s hand, far too fast for Dream to do anything about it.

Once he got the sword, Ranboo tossed it to the side and attacked Dream in a way that was almost animalistic. Dream tried to get away from him, but Ranboo was too fast. 

He tackled him to the ground and dug his strong claws into his neck, Dream immediately screaming out in pain. Ranboo jerked his hand to the side, cutting deeply through Dream’s throat and the screaming turned into pained choking, the blood filling his lungs.

Satisfied that Dream wouldn't be alive for any longer than another minute, Ranboo scurried away to check on Tubbo, who was sitting on the ground to the side. He squished Tubbo’s cheeks in between his hands in a worried gesture, needing a physical indication that his friend was ok. 

He realized with a panicked chirp that he was getting blood on Tubbo’s face and tried to wipe it off, but only succeeded in spreading it around. Ranboo made a whining sound that sounded much more like him and less animalistic than most of the other noises he’d been making. 

Tubbo chuckled and wiped the blood off of his face with his shirt sleeve. 

“Here, kid. Lemme get that blood off of your hand,” Techno said, his voice uncharacteristically soft as he walked towards the two.

Ranboo screeched and pulled Tubbo close to him protectively, seeing Techno approach him and therefore Tubbo, who had just gotten hurt. Techno gasped and took a step back, a look on his face that could only be described as heartbroken.

“Ranboo?” Tubbo prompted. “Hey, it’s ok it’s just Technoblade. You trust Techno, right big man?”

Ranboo seemed to calm down, nodding with a soft vwoop, but not loosening his hold on Tubbo. 

Ranboo heard the thumping of wings against air and any sense of humanity he had slipped away, his animalistic protectiveness over Tubbo taking over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Thank you for the kind comments :D I can't say I know when I'll be finished with the (hopefully) last chapter seeing as this fic is full of surprises for me, but it shouldn't be TOO long.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter! Here it is! I didn't have as much to add as I thought I would so sorry if the final chapter is a bit short, but I didn't want to add unnecessary parts that don't improve the story at all just to make it last longer. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Phil and Sam walked through the nether portal into the snowy terrain and Phil began slowly flying over Sam to guide him to the cabin. They had just passed the half-frozen lake when they heard someone scream, the voice terrifyingly familiar.

“That was Dream!” Phil yelled.

“What?? Go! I'll catch up!”

Phil nodded. “Alright. Just keep going straight, you can’t miss it.”

Phil started flying as fast as he could, the freezing air biting at his skin. As he flew, he felt a buzz from his communicator on his wrist and he glanced at it just in case it was important. 

_ Dream was mauled to death by Ranboo _

Now that one was unexpected. Phil could have never seen Ranboo being strong enough to win a fight against Dream. And he was  _ mauled to death _ ?? That was definitely his first time seeing that death message. The enderman-like screech that rang out as he looked at the message gave him a bit of an idea as to what happened, though.

When he got there, he had to take a moment to take in the scene. There was a netherite sword abandoned a few feet away from Dream’s body, his throat torn up and a pool of blood under him. The fact that he hadn’t respawned meant Ranboo had taken his last life; he was gone.

A little bit away from Dream’s body sat Ranboo and Tubbo, but Ranboo looked so much different. His arms and legs had grown in length, he had monstrous-looking claws, most of his skin and hair was charcoal black with only a slight part of him remaining white, and both of his eyes were green with thin slits as pupils. He had Tubbo pulled into his lap like he was shielding him from something, snarling at Phil and Techno, and making the same sound an enderman makes when you look them in the eyes.

“Ranboo, it’s ok,” Tubbo tried to calm him down. “It’s just Techno and Phil. They won’t hurt you and they won’t hurt me. They're your friends, Ranboo, you trust them." The reassurances seemed to be relaxing him, the sounds dissipating and the snarl gone from his face, but he still had a death grip on Tubbo and was glaring at Phil and Techno, so Tubbo continued talking. "They care about you, and you care about me, so they wouldn't hurt me, ok?"

Ranboo nodded and relaxed fully, slowly shrinking as he slumped down onto Tubbo. Tubbo struggled to keep him upright when he passed out and as soon as he did, his body quickly shrank down to its usual size at the same time that his claws flattened and the color of his skin and hair went back to normal.

"Guys?" Tubbo called. "A little help?"

Phil and Techno hurried over and Phil held Ranboo's upper body upright so that Tubbo could move from his lap. Once he did, Phil picked up Ranboo, who was unconscious for the second time that day.

"Holy shit!" Phil yelled as soon as he turned around. "What the hell happened to the house?"

"Have you forgotten how much Dream is obsessed with TNT? Well, he was. He's dead now. For good, I think."

“Fucking finally,” Tubbo muttered as Phil flew into the second floor of the cabin with Ranboo.

Techno built a quick platform from where they were to the cabin just so that they could get over and he followed Phil. 

“Sam!” Tubbo shouted and jumped down from the roof to meet the creeper hybrid, who was running toward the cabin. Sam stopped running and pulled Tubbo into a hug when he was close enough. 

“Tubbo, what’s going on? Phil and I heard screaming and he flew ahead to help. What happened?” 

“Techno and I’ll explain inside. C’mon.”

“What about Ranboo? Is he ok?”

“Yeah, he’s fine. He’s unconscious, but he’s not injured or anything.”

“That’s good I think.”

They started heading inside using the stasis chamber stairs. “My god…” Sam muttered when he saw the state of the cabin. He paused when he saw Dream’s body. “Is he…?”

“Dead? Yeah. It’s about time.”

They crossed the makeshift platform and Tubbo quickly took his spot next to the couch where Ranboo was laid out on, the scene awfully similar to earlier that day. 

He heard a meow from behind a shield that was propped against the wall and when Tubbo moved it, Enderchest emerged from behind it and immediately hopped onto the couch to curl up on Ranboo's chest.

"Did he…?" Techno asked.

Tubbo chuckled, "Yeah, Ranboo used his shield to protect Enderchest."

“Idiot.” Techno shook his head slightly, but his voice and the small smile on his face were filled with fondness.

Techno moved to start tending to his injuries as Tubbo explained to Sam and Phil everything that had happened.

“What now?” Sam asked when he finished. “I mean, Dream is gone. I think that solves almost all of our problems, right?”

“Yeah, mostly,” Phil agreed. “I do have something I’d like to talk to you about, though, Sam. It’s about Ranboo.”

“Oh? Is everything ok?”

“Not exactly. There’s something going on with him. He goes into this state that he calls his ‘enderwalk’ where he will basically lose consciousness and his body will be doing something while he’s asleep. It’s kind of like sleepwalking from what he’s told us, but when he wakes up, things in his inventory will be different from when he went to sleep. Sometimes the durability on his tools and armor will be lower, sometimes things are just gone. It’s weird and he never remembers what he does in that state. I’ve seen him like that a few times and he talks in the end language instead of English, it’s creepy as fuck.”

“Y’know, I think I have seen that before. He was never doing anything noteworthy though. From what I saw, he was just wandering aimlessly, moving grass blocks in random places.”

“Yeah, well if you see him doing that, can you do me a huge favor and just keep an eye on him? And just– you’re a good person, Sam. I know you like to help people, especially kids who deserve a normal life, so I’m asking if you would just help him out if you see an opportunity to do so. He’s a pretty independent kid, so even though he lives next to us, Techno and I don’t have many opportunities to keep an eye on him.”

“Phil, I’m going to be completely honest with you. I think you are a terrible father for just leaving Tommy to deal with his problems on his own and I don’t think trying to help another kid is going to make up for that in the slightest, but yes, I will keep an eye on Ranboo and keep him safe as much as I can. Not for you, for Ranboo. As you said, he deserves a normal life and I don’t want him hurting."

Phil sighed, "I understand. Thank you."

They heard what sounded like the chirp of an enderman and they all looked over to see Ranboo rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he gently stroked Enderchest’s fur. He looked up and shrunk when he saw everyone looking at him, even if they were smiling. “Um, hi?”

Phil smiled, “Hey, mate. How are you feeling?”

“Uhh, my arms and legs hurt a bit, as well as my fingers for some reason. What happened? Why am I passed out again?”

“You went feral trying to protect Tubbo,” Techno explained, causing Ranboo to worriedly glance down at his friend, who had a wide grin on his face and a slight hint of concern in his eyes. “Your limbs grew longer, you got claws, and the dark part of your skin and hair spread. I’m guessing that’s where the pain came from.”

“Protect Tubbo? Why would I need to- Oh! Dream! Where is he?”

“From what I heard,” Sam started, “you killed him, Ranboo.”

“I-I did?”

Tubbo nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, big man! You screamed and scared the shit out of him so I was able to get away and you fuckin’ tackled him, it was so cool!”

Ranboo blinked silently, unsure how to process the information he was given. After a moment, everyone started to get concerned, but before they could say anything, Ranboo blurted out, “Holy shit.”

Everyone burst into laughter, even Techno. None of them had ever heard Ranboo swear before; he was a very polite kid and had always tried not to, so the sudden curse word was hilariously shocking. 

When the laughter calmed down, Ranboo hastily explained, “Sorry, sorry! It’s just– I killed Dream, that’s insane. Is he dead? Like  _ dead _ dead?”

“Oh yeah, he’s very dead,” Phil said. “I mean, his body is outside if you wanna be sure.”

“Uh, I’m ok. I’d rather not see Dream’s dead body.”

“Yeah, that’s understandable.”

"What do you think is gonna happen now that Dream is gone?"

"I think," Sam started, "that everyone who was hurt by him will finally be able to recover, at least a little bit."

Ranboo sighed and closed his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right."

  
  
  


Ranboo sat on a pile of blankets and pillows behind the desk in the lobby of the prison, the sounds of pen on paper coming from the desk as Sam filled out paperwork and wrote new contracts and waivers – he’d had a lot of work ever since Dream escaped. Sure, he was dead now, but that didn’t change the fact that someone was able to get out; he had to make it even more secure.

The sound reminded Ranboo that he hadn’t written in his memory book in a few days, so he pulled it out and flipped to the first blank page. 

The purpose of the memory book had been a bit different lately than it had been before. Before, it was used to write down things he didn’t want to forget, now he used it more like a diary. Puffy had suggested it to him in one of his therapy sessions a couple of weeks back and he really enjoyed it.

Ranboo reached up to grab a pen off of the desk and started writing

_ It’s been about a month since I killed Dream and I think things are starting to get a lot better for me. Things aren’t perfect, of course, we still have the egg to deal with, but I’m in a much better mental place than I was a month ago. _

_ Ever since I killed Dream, Sam has gotten weirdly protective over me. I don’t go into my enderwalk state as often, but when I do, he’s often with me when I wake up and when I ask why he just says he was keeping an eye on me. I still don’t know what that means exactly, but I don’t really care. It’s nice not waking up alone and confused anymore. _

_ That’s not it, either. Every time he sees me, he tries to strike up a conversation. It was really awkward at first, but I think we’ve gotten pretty close. He even set up a comfy little corner in the prison lobby for me behind his desk; the place doesn’t make me nearly as uncomfortable now that Dream is gone. _

_ Don’t get me wrong, I still love Phil and Techno and I still live over there with them, but a lot of times I’ll stay with Tubbo in Snowchester or with Sam at his place for a day or two. Phil always messages me to make sure I’m ok, though, it’s very sweet. _

_ And, of course, spending more time with Tubbo means spending more time with Tommy, even if they don’t hang out as much as they used to. I think Tommy has grown to like me at least a little bit. We can at least joke around with each other without it being awkward which is more than I can say for most people. It’s nice. _

_ Of course, though, not everything is good. Tommy played his Mellohi disk about a week ago when the three of us were hanging out and I had a full-blown panic attack before blacking out again. I guess I can't listen to Mellohi anymore. _

_ Also, I think George and Sapnap hate me now. I know they were good friends with Dream, even if they didn't like the person he'd turned into, so I understand.  _

_ Still, though, it feels nice having friends that I feel comfortable around and trust. I'm constantly being asked if I'm ok and I can finally say yes without lying. I’m not constantly worrying about whether my friends hate me or not or when my next mental breakdown will happen.  _

_ I’m with other people more than I’m alone and I think I like it. I’m finally becoming part of a family. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy there it is. It's over now I guess. I had to give our boy some happiness there at the end he deserves it <3 I hope you've enjoyed this short lil journey! I've surely enjoyed writing it! <3<3

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you're enjoying this so far! Like I said, I really wasn't planning on this getting so long, but I have over 5000 words in my doc which is why I'm splitting it up into two chapters. It shouldn't be too long until the next chapter is finished, so keep an eye out for that! Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated and really help with motivation!


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